World roundup: February 21 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

February 21, 1916: The Battle of Verdun—the longest battle of World War I and, indeed, in modern history—begins. It would end with a French victory over the attacking Germans almost a full ten months later, on December 18, after more than 300,000 soldiers had been killed on either side and upwards of 800,000 wounded. The battle is remembered today for its extended brutality and, in France, for the resistance the French army showed in the face of a sustained German effort to wear it down.

French soldiers attacking from their trench at Verdun (Collection DocAnciens via Wikimedia Commons)

February 21, 1921: The Iranian Cossack Brigade marches into Tehran and, in a coup supported by British officials in Iran, forces Ahmad Shah Qajar to appoint a new cabinet led by journalist Ziaʾeddin Tabatabaee and military commander Reza Khan—the future Reza Shah Pahlavi.

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

AFP reported on Friday that the European Union will suspend sanctions targeting Syria’s banking, energy, and transportation sectors next week. Freezing the banking sanctions in particular could provide a significant boost to the Syrian economy, though the decision to suspend rather than lift the sanctions may limit the extent of that boost. Suspended sanctions can easily be un-suspended, and European institutions may be reluctant to engage with Syria very deeply as long as there’s still some risk that they’ll wind up paying a penalty for it down the road.